Like an Angel
This year, Yom Kippur falls on Shabbos, the Sabbath. Yom Kippur itself is called "Sabbath of Sabbaths" in the Torah [Lev. 16:31] -- but what is the connection? They seem to lie at opposite ends of the spectrum. On the Sabbath, we sit together with family and guests,...
Smelly Justice
In this week's Torah reading, Parshas Shoftim in Deuteronomy, Israel is commanded to have judges and officers, those who maintain both justice and order. A judge in particular is required to be entirely unbiased, and not to accept 'Shochad', usually translated as...
“I’m Your Father. I’m Still Here.”
"You are children of G-d, your Master. You should not cut yourselves nor make a baldness between your eyes for the dead" (Deut. 14:1, Portion of Re'eh). No doubt that knowing we are children of G-d, that we can relate to Him as a child relates to a father, is...
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This week is Shabbos Nachamu, the "Sabbath of Consolation." Following three weeks in which the weekly Haftarah spoke about the loss of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, leading up to Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, we now have seven weeks during which we focus upon our...
Torah: Pure and Untouched
"The teachings of the A-lmighty are pure," "Toras Hashem Temima" (Tehillim/Psalms 19:8). The holy Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Hassidic movement and many schools of Kabbalah, takes the following novel approach to this popular verse: even after one has derived all...
Leaders Who Lead
In this week's reading, Moshe (Moses) is told to appoint Yehoshua (Joshua), "a man who has the spirit within him," to lead the Nation of Israel after Moshe's passing. Rabbi Asher Zelig Rubenstein shlit"a, whose classes are available on TorahMedia almost immediately...
Sowing Division
This week's reading puts to rest the misguided notion that "there are two sides to every argument." This statement is, at its essence, a truism -- so in actual use, it is intended to convey that each side must be exaggerating, that the truth always lies somewhere in...
Hearing Half the Story, a Flotilla Lesson
In this week's reading, we learn of the spies sent to look at the Land of Israel, who returned with an evil report -- and the disaster that followed. The entire generation that said they could not go up into the Land created a self-fulfilling prophecy: G-d repays...
Turn On the Lights in Every Soul
Our reading this week begins with a command to Aaron regarding the lighting of the Menorah. The Torah does not say that Aaron should "ignite" the candles, similar to the blessing when lighting candles on Shabbos or Chanukah, but that he should "make them go up." To...
A Unique Spiritual Oppurtunity
This coming week, from Tuesday evening through Thursday night, is the holiday of Shavuos -- the day of receipt of the Torah itself, at Mt. Sinai. Our Sages tell us that each holiday brings with it unique spiritual opportunities and energies, making this our annual...
We Have Exponential Power
A friend of mine emailed a beautiful message to me this morning... thank you to Rabbi Nitzan Bergman of Baltimore for the following thought. The week's Torah portion paints the following picture of the success promised to the Jewish people when they come close to the...
Mistakes of Others and Kotel Cam
The Torah reading this week begins with G-d speaking to Moshe, "after the deaths of the two sons of Aharon." G-d has a lesson for Aharon, that he should not enter the Holy of Holies except as directed. Why is this told to Aharon "after the deaths of [his] two sons?"...
